Researchers have now acquired so much information about how the brain learns that a new academic discipline has been born, called “educational neuroscience” or “mind, brain, and education science.” This field explores how research findings from neuroscience, education, and psychology can inform our understandings about teaching and learning, and whether they have implications for educational practice. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that recommendations for applying these findings to instructional practices have a foundation in solid scientific research. It also ensures that teachers
In this interview, author and professor R. Keith Sawyer describes the importance of and interconnections among creativity, collaboration, and the science of learning. He explains that the older paradigm of schooling from 50 years ago where rote learning was predominant is no longer relevant in a knowledge-based society. We now have to prepare students for jobs that require adaptability, flexibility, and creativity. He endorses an approach to education that fosters a deeper conceptual understanding, especially through collaborative creativity. He maintains that true innovation usually comes
Recent advances in neuroscience are highlighting connections between emotion, social functioning, and decision making that have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the role of affect in education. In particular, the neurobiological evidence suggests that the aspects of cognition that we recruit most heavily in schools, namely learning, attention, memory, decision making, and social functioning, are both profoundly affected by and subsumed within the processes of emotion; we call these aspects emotional thought. Moreover, the evidence from brain-damaged patients suggests the
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This report highlights advances in neuroscience with potential implications for education and lifelong learning. The report authors, including neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and education specialists, agree that if applied properly, the impacts of neuroscience could be highly beneficial in schools and beyond. The report argues that our growing understanding of how we learn should play a much greater role in education policy and should also feature in teacher training. The report also discusses the challenges and limitations of applying neuroscience in the classroom and in learning
This is a handout from a session presented at the 2008 ASTC Conference. Advances in neuroscience are revealing biological pathways underlying emotion, attention, and memory. How can this research be integrated with educational pedagogy to enhance free-choice learning? Join experts from neuroscience, education, and museums to explore practical ways in which new insights about the brain can be applied to creating museum experiences.
This report from the National Research Council explores how learning changes the physical structure of the brain, how existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn, the amazing learning potential of infants, and the relationship between classroom learning and learning in everyday settings such as community and the workplace. It identifies learning needs and opportunities for teachers and provides a realistic look at the role of technology in education.
The project "Microetching of the Human Brain" endeavors to create the most comprehensive illustration of the human brain that has ever existed. Investigators will utilize reflective microetching, a process combining mathematics and optics to create an art piece that evolves based on the position of the viewer. Microetching allows the depiction of very complex brain activity at incredibly fine detail. The final piece will be a wall-sized piece of fine art experienced by a diverse population of thousands daily at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Additionally, this project is an educational opportunity for undergraduate students through direct involvement in the creation of the piece. As this project spans many scientific and artistic disciplines, students will be given an opportunity to learn about fields apart from their own, to broaden their skill set, and to learn how to communicate scientific concepts effectively. This project is a collaboration between neuroscientists, engineers, physicists, and artists to address the question of whether art can be used in the dissemination of scientific understanding to new audiences in a way that gives a visceral sense of the underlying concepts. The human brain is massively complex and challenging to portray clearly. Conveying a sense of its complexity through art may inspire an interest in the brain's scientific content and inspire a new generation of neuroscientists. To produce a piece of fine art capable of sufficient detail to depict the brain at near full complexity, the piece will be executed by a technique called reflective microetching. Microetching is a high-resolution lithographic process that patterns a microtopography of periodic ridges into the surface. These ridges are engineered to reflect a point-source illumination toward a viewer when standing at a specific angle relative to the painting. Similar to darkfield microscopy, this can yield incredibly fine detail. Additionally, the angular dependence of the light adds an extra dimension that can be used to convey time, depth, or motion as the viewer walks past. The piece will feature neurons, glia, vasculature, white and gray matter, and reflectively animated circuit dynamics between areas of the brain corresponding to neural processes involved in visual self-recognition. This will infuse the piece with additional meaning, as the circuits activated within viewers' brains will be the same that are depicted in the artwork.
Objects define museums: The collection, maintenance, and display of objects are the central functions of museum practice. But does it matter whether the objects on display are authentic? Investigators Hampp and Schwan's findings suggest that visitors learn as much from non-authentic objects as from authentic ones, but that aspects of authenticity shape visitors’ emotional experiences of museum objects.
This paper explores how a school-day science and nutrition curriculum, Choice, Control and Change (C3), shaped student thinking, decision making, and actions outside the classroom. The curriculum taught health science content and engaged students in activities focused on analyzing and changing their personal health choices.
In this review paper, Oliver calls for greater cross-pollination between neuroscience research and educational practice. She asks, “What can educators learn from an understanding of educational neuroscience?”
Today we have access to an almost inconceivably vast amount of information, from sources that are increasingly portable, accessible, and interactive. The Internet and the explosion of digital media content have made more information available from more sources to more people than at any other time in human history. This brings an infinite number of opportunities for learning, social connection, and entertainment. But at the same time, the origin of information, its quality, and its veracity are often difficult to assess. This volume addresses the issue of credibility—the objective and
A hypermedia simulation, Sickle Cell Counselor, has been developed to anchor instruction for museum visitors using the task of advising couples about the decision to have children when there is a substantial genetic risk of sickle cell disease. A visitor can perform simulated laboratory tests and ask questions via interactive video. The anchored instruction model is closely related to cognitive apprenticeship theory. Patterns of interaction between the user, simulating the role of a genetic counselor, and the program are illustrated through an annotated example. The genetic counseling role